


Crowning Glory

by TheRebelFlower



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hints of Scayo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26272798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRebelFlower/pseuds/TheRebelFlower
Summary: This time, it was Kayo's most precious possession that needed rescuing...
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	Crowning Glory

It was their day off. They had decided to come out without the ‘birds, to be together as a family, like so many others did. So, naturally, what were they doing on this sunny Saturday afternoon? Having a picnic in a park? Visiting a zoo? Lounging around on a beach?

Of course not.

They were on the side of a craggy and uneven slope off a hiking trail, scrambling about to fetch two children who had wandered off to pick flowers and had fallen down too far to get back on their own. Without ropes or equipment.

It was a pretty typical Tracy vacation, really.

Virgil, John and Gordon were standing in strategic locations in the slope to relay the children back up, balancing on ledges or protrusions and praying that nothing would go wrong. Scott and Alan were doing some crowd control and making sure the others could work in relative peace, the family’s youngest being surprisingly efficient and reassuring with the distraught parents even at only twelve.

Kayo was at the bottom of the human chain, standing the closest to the children. She had to balance on a narrow ledge and make it look easy and safe for the two little ones to trust her and cooperate. The first child went up slowly, helped in turns by the brothers as he progressed. The distance to cover wasn’t all that big but he was scared and crying and needed some coaxing to move on.

The young woman felt the gravel roll under her sneaker as she leant over to help the second child up. The little girl hesitated to take Gordon’s hand and Kayo readjusted her position to get closer to him. As usual, his golden, sunshiny disposition prevailed and the girl even laughed a little when he helped her up.

He didn’t have a single chance to turn around and grab onto Kayo when more gravel rolled and she fell down and away from him with a startled yelp.

Kayo tried futilely to grab onto anything when she felt herself go. It was useless. Her mind registered her brothers’ horrified expressions before she began rolling down the slope. She felt rocks, gravel, brambles and vegetation scratch her arms, legs and face as she tried to find some way to turn around and stop herself. Something pulled at her hair, got caught in her shirt... what felt like an eternity was probably only a few moments but she was finally stopped brutally by a thorny bush.

Winded, sore, she took a moment to catch her breath but looked up when she heard Gordon’s frantic call. He was climbing down as fast as he could, trying not to become a victim himself.

“I’m fine!” she replied, hating the fact that she sounded a little shaky.

She began climbing up, not waiting for Gordon to reach her.

“Hey! Hold on, let me have a look at you!” he protested

“It’s just scratches,” she shrugged his concern off, not wanting to be the girl they needed to rescue.

She was one of the guys. She fell, she got back up, she took pain killers when no one was looking. That’s how it worked.

Gordon stopped where he was and watched her as she approached. She looked steady on her feet and was using what little holds she could find to move efficiently. His eyes roamed over her instinctively, looking for injuries. Her legs seemed fine, her arms seemed fine, so did her face, her head—he blinked, staring at her with his mouth agape.

“What?” she asked, confused by his expression.

“Um, you have something in your hair.”

It was to be expected. She had rolled down the slope for a while. It couldn’t be that bad, could it?

***

The return home had been painful, in more than one way. It was _bad_. It was on a nearly-solid-block-of-burrs-and-twigs-and-sap level of bad. Kayo had briefly touched it, recoiled in horror and tried to pull at it desperately, only to be stopped by Gordon, who shook his head at her. Both Virgil and John had looked at her a little oddly when she arrived at their level and in their usual efficient manner, had set into motion. John hurried to disperse the onlookers now that the rescue was over while Virgil stood by the edge, shielding her from the general view with his broader frame. Gordon had handed her his hoodie to help cover the situation, but the burrs and other things that had adopted her head as a new home were rubbing against her skin and making her miserable.

They had walked the whole way back to the jet (Two had seemed overkill at the time), tried to make her as comfortable as possible in her seat, moving the long, sticky and scratchy mass away from her as much as they could. Virgil had been particularly gentle, folding the hoodie to create a makeshift pillow for her head. “Don’t worry,” he murmured reassuringly, before taking place in the co-pilot seat next to Scott, who smiled at her.

She was silent, her body aching, humiliated by her current predicament. She felt John’s eyes on her hair from across her row, Alan’s from behind him. She wanted to shrink away and hide. Up at the front, Scott and Virgil were talking in hushed tones. About her, most likely. She wasn’t always part of the rescues normally, she was usually busy with the security aspects and other goings around on the island, but she trained with them—trained _them_ for crying out loud—and she expected to be able to pull her own weight. This wasn’t a stellar entry on her rescue record.

She looked down at her faded and now grimy jean shorts, her torn shirt, stuck a finger through the hole. She hadn’t seen her hair, but considering that the Tracy brothers had all stared at her—and they usually didn’t care much about beauty-related things and were regularly dirty and hands-on with many things normal people wouldn’t touch—she wasn’t sure she wanted to see it. She sighed quietly.

***

They landed on Tracy Island shortly after. Kayo moved to stand up as soon as the jet had stopped, but apparently, Scott had something in mind. He stood up almost as quickly, stating: “Alright, time to complete this rescue, guys! Kayo, I want you to go change into something comfortable. Then, meet us on the terrace.”

“What?” she asked dumbly.

Scott continued, as if he hadn’t heard her. “Virgil and I will finish the post-flight check and get things ready. John, see if you can find something we can use to help us detangle hair?”

“It’ll have to be oily.” He gave Kayo an apologetic look. “You might want to bring back shampoo and conditioner, too. Perhaps wear an older shirt?”

She opened her mouth to protest that they didn’t have to do all that, but Gordon jumped in: “I’m on med duty!”

“I’ll make you a nice snack!” Alan added, a serious expression on his face.

“Guys...”

“We don’t get to pamper our sister very often; right after she just saved two children seems as good an occasion as any,” Virgil commented from where he was still sitting, flicking switches to complete the check.

Her eyes went from his to Scott’s. She tried not to linger on them. Or his dimples. “Do you need help with changing? We can get Grandma,” he offered.

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine, I think.” She touched her head. “Thank you.”

Gordon popped in from his seat and pecked her cheek. “Off with you!” he urged her on, giving her a winning smile.

She rolled her eyes at him but he was granted half a smile before she left the jet.

Gordon’s face fell a bit. “Holy crap, it’s going to take _hours_ ,” he groaned.

***

“Getting things ready” apparently consisted of setting a chaise longue with a blanket and few pillows to prop her up and putting three kitchen chairs behind it. John was sitting on the middle chair, with Virgil and Scott flanking him. Such a welcoming committee was a little intimidating as each brother was currently sporting his own version of the devastating Tracy smile and she hesitated.

“Come on,” Virgil said, motioning her forward.

“It’s just like a day at the spa,” Scott added.

“No spa would accept this job,” she replied, gesturing toward her head, “I’ve seen what it looks like.”

“No rescue is too big or too little for us. Sit.” John always was the most direct of them, but the affection in his voice showed through.

She smiled at them, then sat. Someone picked up the mess on her head and lay it on the other side of the headrest to let it hang. Gentle hands touched her; they were probably having a closer look at the situation. It was almost pleasant.

Gordon arrived with his first-aid supplies and saw John running his hand over Kayo’s hair band. The aquanaut grimaced and let out: “Oooh, I think we’re gonna have to cut it. We won’t have a choice.”

She froze.

 _Cut it_.

They were going to _cut her hair_.

_No!_

Panicked, Kayo sprang up from her seat. Her hair was her crowning glory. Her strength. The one part of her body she was proud of and the thought of losing it was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Her mother had had long, glorious hair that had reached her knees. This wasn’t just hair, it was a memory, a tribute... “Don’t. I’ll, I’ll untangle it. Don’t cut my hair!” she stammered, feeling ridiculous and vulnerable at the same time.

She looked at each of the brothers in turn. If they seemed a little surprised by her outburst, they didn’t comment about it—or even worse, laughed.

Scott gestured at the chair. “Gordo meant the hair band. Sit back. Relax. You’re safe and so is your hair,” he said, giving his brother a warning glance and ensuring the young woman was comfortable when she sat back down.

Gordon had the grace to look contrite. “Sorry,” he said.

He took a soft facecloth and, dipping it into a bowl of water he had brought along, began washing the cuts and scrapes on her arms and legs. It was actually refreshing and although it stung at first, she felt better as he worked his way carefully from one spot to the next.

Scott, Virgil and John had begun working on removing the burrs and other surprises, starting at the bottom and pulling the items out one by one after using some olive oil to make the hair slippery. Each had their own technique. John was very methodical and his gestures were calculated. She wasn’t sure how he managed it, but he wasn’t pulling on her head at all. Virgil was struggling a little with his large hands and ended up squishing the burrs and using a comb to gently remove the broken parts. Scott was intent on being the first to free a full strand of hair and wasn’t as patient as his brothers, so there was a little pulling on his part. She still couldn’t help the odd flutter in her chest when he triumphantly set a long, dark ribbon of hair on her shoulder so that she could see it.

Alan had been busy in the meantime. He approached the setup holding a plate, a mug and had managed to squeeze his tablet under his arm at the same time to carry it. “I made tea, I hope it’s all right,” he fretted.

“I’m sure it is,” Kayo replied, taking the plate from him.

He had made her a toasted chicken sandwich with a hint of honey mustard, mayo and some bacon bits that he had also sprinkled generously over the chips he had included as a side (and why not...). He sat on the ground, next to the chair, putting the tea next to him. At first, she thought that he was going to play a game, but he turned to her and asked: “Do you want me to read something to you?”

He was so attentive and trying very hard... she nodded, touched. He chose some adventure story she probably wouldn’t have read herself, but he was enthusiastic about it and she found herself following along, as did the others because they commented and reacted as they continued working.

It was taking _forever_.

Alan ended up falling asleep where he was sitting, with his head resting on the side of the chaise longue. Gordon had gone to prepare dinner for everyone even if it wasn’t his day. The three remaining brothers soldiered on, handing her the freed locks as they progressed so that they were out of the way. John was now standing to access the top of her head and both Scott and Virgil were working closer to her ears. Kayo smoothed out the section she was holding out of the way pensively, her fingers taking on some of the oil. “I’m so sorry about this,” she let out, feeling like she needed to apologize.

Scott shrugged. “It’s not worse than the time Virgil decided to do body painting on Gordon and Alan using peanut butter.”

“Or the time Scott tried to make cream of vegetables using a blender but didn’t want to wait for the soup to cool down beforehand because it was taking too long,” Virgil retorted with a smug smile, even after his brother gave him a one-fingered salute. “There were tomatoes. We found spots on the ceiling days after.”

“Oh dear...” she chuckled and gave Scott a sympathetic look from under her growing curtain of hair.

“Hey, go big or go home. You only got half of Al’s hair buttered in.” Scott snorted. “Amateur.”

Virgil’s mouth opened in outrage. “Excuse me, Mr. soup master wannabe?! I had peanut-buttered the whole banister at the ranch. John used it to slide downstairs and decided to go play with his lunar base playset on the living room carpet. It was a _masterpiece_ of a mess!”

Kayo laughed and John protested: “Don’t drag me into your argument, I was an innocent victim in this!”

Scott homed in on his second brother. “Should we mention the time you decided to recreate the Milky Way in your room using the inside of your beanbag, a leaf blower and glitter?”

“You can’t have a Milky Way without galactic dust,” John deadpanned, not even stopping his detangling. “There is still glitter in that room today. You may bow to the true master now.”

Both men complied laughingly and Kayo waved her hands in front of her to bow as well. Alan woke up. “What’s happening?” he asked groggily.

“Actually...” Virgil said, “I think I’m done on my side!” he exclaimed, running his fingers in her hair close to her scalp and moving them down all the way to the tip. “Look at this shiny beaut!”

“I feel much better already. Thank you, guys.”

Alan reached over spontaneously for a cuddle. Virgil, who had stood up from his chair, engulfed both of them in one of his bear hugs before heading for the picnic table, where Gordon had “forgotten” to put away the first-aid items in his enthusiasm to prepare dinner. Alan piled up the plate, mug and bowl of water, opened his arm like a chicken wing for someone to stick his tablet there and declared he was going to put these away; he was probably looking for a place where he could play games in peace now that the crisis seemed to have been averted.

John handed another lock of hair to Kayo for her to hold. “Almost done here too,” he said. “How are you doing?” he asked Scott.

As if he didn’t know already... His eldest brother had slowed down somewhat. One could have thought that it was because he was growing tired of this, but John knew better; he had a feeling that Virgil knew as well because by picking up the meds, he was also preparing his exit.

Their big brother wasn’t always as subtle as he thought he was.

“Not long to go either, but we still need to wash the oil off. You guys can go at this point. I’ll finish her off on my own,” he said.

Everyone froze for a second, Virgil not daring to look away from the first-aid kit despite feeling John’s stunned yet amused stare on the back of his neck.

“Finish _things_ off,” Scott quickly rectified, his face burning, wishing the ground would open to drop him into One’s hangar below—or lower.

“I can handle that part myself...” Kayo said.

An odd sound bubbled out of Virgil’s throat.

“Well! I think this is our cue to leave...” John commented, earning himself a glare from Scott.

He gave Kayo her hair band, which was greasy and dirty, but otherwise still intact. She squeezed his hand affectionately in return, watching him leave. Virgil didn’t even try to hide his smile when he set the strap of the first-aid kit on his shoulder and followed his younger brother inside the house. “Good luck,” he mouthed at Scott, to which his brother replied with the victory sign, but apparently forgot to turn his hand around.

“I don’t know where that slip came from but that opened a door the size of Two’s hangar... Do you think he’ll grab the opportunity?” Virgil asked as they entered the kitchen area and were out of earshot.

John laughed.


End file.
